


All The Stars We Steal From The Night Sky

by moe_writes



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Falling In Love, First Kiss, First Love, Fluff, M/M, Space Gays, SpaceBoos, Teen Romance, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:34:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23584699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moe_writes/pseuds/moe_writes
Summary: Paul takes Hugh stargazing.But noooooo, that's totally not a date, right?(Spoilers, of course it is a date.)
Relationships: Hugh Culber/Paul Stamets
Comments: 10
Kudos: 18





	All The Stars We Steal From The Night Sky

**Author's Note:**

> Un-betaed and un-everything-ed and english isn't my first language, but hey, we all need some fluff to cheer us up these days.

“Aw fuck.”, Paul sighed as the “Game Over” screen popped up.

“We have to plan better.”, Straal said, already strategizing again. “If we rearrange everyone to have the-” Before he could finish the sentence, Paul’s screen turned off, together with everything else in his room.

“Great.”, he mumbled. He shot Straal a text about the power outage, before getting up to hopefully fix it. The hallway was dark too and at the switch box he almost ran into his dad.

“Do you have a flashlight?”

“I have my phone.”, Paul replied, turning on the flash and opening the box. He flicked the main switch and absolutely nothing happened. So he leaned in close and smelled. “Doesn’t smell fried.” So he started trying other switches.

“No point in trying, the whole street is dark.", his dad said looking out the window.

“Great.”, he sighed closing the switch box. “I’ll make tea, do you want any?”

“No, thank you. Do you have that battery thing charged?”, his dad asked as Paul was getting the kettle.

“The power bank?”

“Yeah, that.”

“Yep, I’ll get it to you. Turn on the power-saving mode or the power bank won’t last long. Settings, system settings, power mode.”

“Thanks, kid.”

“Hmm.”

  


The power bank was easy to find, matches were harder. But it slowly became easier as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. The moonlight became bright enough to light the room and searching like that was so much more comfortable than with a flashlight. He found the matches on the very bottom of the drawer that he kept some of his camping gear in and opened the window to look at the sky properly. It was perfectly clear and judging by how the stars sparkled, the power outage had to affect a big part of the city.

Walking to the office he checked his phone for any news.

“Citywide power outage.”, he told his dad, handing him the power bank. “Something about a security breach in the generating plant, they will fix it until morning.”

“Sounds like a good day to go to bed early.”

“Hypocrite.”, Paul replied, eyeing the can of coffee. “But yeah, I might.”

“Good night then.”, he said, his thoughts already fully focused on his work.

“Night.”

Paul’s plans were the opposite of going to bed early. This was the perfect night for stargazing.

_"The whole city is down, let’s continue tomorrow?"_ , he texted Straal, before opening his chat with Hugh. What should he write? “Are you up?” “Are you free?” That seemed pretty boring, right? His huge crush was making this really complicated.

  


_"Remember when you complained about people not doing spontaneous things?"_

  


Hugh’s reply came almost instantly.

  


_"What are you up to?"_

  


_"Stargazing. Want to join?"_

  


_"Yes!"_

  


Paul couldn’t hold back a grin.

  


_"’ll pick you up in half an hour, pack a roll matt."_

  


Hot chocolate suddenly seemed much better than tea.

This was not a date, he had to keep reminding himself. Definitely not a date. They just both happened to be gay and friends, this wasn’t a date. He shouldn’t be imagining things.

Still hot cocoa wouldn't hurt.

He lit the gas stove and set up milk, before rushing to his room to pack his backpack. Roll matt, star map, blanket, hand warmers. Perfect. Before hurrying back to the kitchen he also grabbed a hoodie, his most comfortable warm jacket and boots from the hall and made it back just in time to stop the milk from bubbling out of the pot. He poured it in the themosflask together with his homemade cocoa mix, stuffed it in the backpack and got dressed.

There was no way he would have been able to open and close the front door silently, he had learned that long ago, so he always used his window. He used to have trouble climbing down from the roof above the porch, he wasn’t exactly tall after all, but by now he knew where to place his feet and what corner to hold onto to silently leave the house.

  


With his bike it was only a 15 minute ride to Hugh’s place. He was already waiting on the stairs of the porch and greeted Paul with a wide smile.

“Not very sneaky.”, Paul said.

“You know my mum, she told me to have fun and call her if we don't feel safe.”

“I like your mum.”

“She likes you too.”

Paul grinned. “Hop on.”, he said tipping his head a little.

Hugh sat down on the carrier and held onto him.

This wasn’t the first time he had sat on Paul’s carrier, still Paul couldn’t help but get excited about the arms that were wrapped around him. The night brought up feelings. 

“Where are we going?”, Hugh asked.

“To the park.”

“The park is closed.”

“I know.”, Paul grinned.

“Are we breaking in?”

“Can you call it breaking in? It’s public property after all.”

“Oh god.”, he laughed, but didn't object any further. 

Paul stopped a block from the park to lock his bike.

“I wasn’t prepared for illegal activities.”, Hugh chuckled.

“Well… Does it calm you that I’ve done this a lot?”, he offered raising his brows.

“A bit.”, he laughed.

“Ever climbed a fence?”

“Never to break in somewhere.”

Paul jumped to the fence and gave him a grin.

“Scared?”

“Mildly concerned.”, Hugh chuckled. Even though he had laughed, he looked up and down the streets to make sure they were empty, before following Paul.

It wasn’t hard to climb the fence, it didn’t have spikes and although it was tall they could easily climb it like a ladder.

Paul waited for Hugh on the other side and lead the way.

“Thanks for the invitation by the way.”, Hugh smiled.

“Are you getting a taste for criminal activities?”

“Definitely not. But I know that stargazing is… your thing and I’m really happy that you want to share that with me.”

Paul was left speechless for a moment. Of course he was right, but Paul had never thought about it in the weirdly meaningful way Hugh had phrased it. Paul usually preferred solitude but it had been always obvious that that was… different with Hugh.

“Uh... sure.”, he smiled, lacking better words.

Hugh gave him the bright smile that always made him swoon. The way he flashed his perfect teeth and his eyes lit up was just irresistible, Paul had fallen for it almost instantly.

They reached the meadow and Paul let himself fall down in its middle. The sky couldn’t have been more perfect, he wasn’t cold yet, and he was with Hugh. He tried to ingrain the calm happiness in his head, hoping he would be able to recall it at one of the times that he desperately needed it in.

“Isn’t this so nice?”, he sighed happily.

Hugh stepped into the corner of his vision, smiling down at him.

“It is. But you’re soaking all your clothes, you’ll get cold.”

“I know.”, he said a little whiny and sat up to spread the roll matt and open his star map.

Hugh placed his own right next to Paul’s.

“Oh, wow.”, he said, looking at the map in front of them. “Can you actually locate all of those?”

“Most of them.”, Paul said proudly. “That’s Polaris, the really bright one.”

“That’s probably the only one I would have had a chance of finding myself.”, Hugh chuckled. “There’s a formation that is connected to it, right?”

“Uh, yes.” Paul was genuinely surprised and amazed that Hugh knew about stars. Could he be any more perfect? ”It’s Ursa Minor.”

“Where is it?”

“Imagine a curved line going up and then on the end of it a square.”

He looked at Hugh to see if he had managed to find it and judging by his smile he had. It was harder than it should have been to turn back to the sky.

“And if you look left, maybe twice the length of Ursa Minor there is the Big Dipper. The handle is there and then it goes down and again into a square.”, he explained trying to point at the spots. “There is this one brighter star between them.” Hugh leaned in to more accurately see where Paul was pointing. Their arms were touching and Hugh’s head was so close Paul could feel his warmth. “And the next is the handle that goes down-”

“Oh, I see it now!”, he said excitedly. “That’s amazing. I’m a Pisces, can you show me that sign?”

Paul of course knew he was a pisces. “Yeah, we’re lucky, it’s really visible around this time. I’ll have to work my way to it though.”

“Show me everything.”, Hugh chuckled.

So Paul did. At least everything he could find. He went over Cassiopeia, Andromeda and Pegasus to Pisces and managed to find most of the other seasonally visible constellations and could point out some less visible ones. It took a while but Hugh was hanging on his every word which made Paul pretty excited.

Hugh shivered.

“Are you cold?” Hugh was so close that it was just natural for Paul to place a hand on his back as he asked.

“Yeah.”, Hugh admitted with a smile, almost as if he expected Paul to do something about it. So he unpacked both the blanket and the hot cocoa.

“You planned this so well. What did you bring?”, he asked taking the thermos flask that he had placed in front of him. Paul wondered if it would be okay to put the blanket around Hugh’s shoulders and made the impulse decision to just do it while Hugh was busy with the thermos flask, hoping he just wouldn’t notice. But of course he did and gave him a smile that seemed even brighter than usually if that was possible.

“Thank you.”

“Of course.”, Paul replied, feeling a little awkward but happy. “It’s hot cocoa.”

“Ohh, is it your spice mix?”, he asked, before smelling the open bottle.

“Of course.”, Paul grinned. “Help yourself.”

“Thank you. Do you want to join?”, he asked holding up the blanket for him. “I don’t want you to freeze.”

“Uhm. Sure.” He mustered all his courage and leaned against Hugh’s side, wrapping half of the blanket around himself.

Hugh hummed after his first sip of cocoa.

“I love your hot cocoa.”

“Thanks.” He really hoped Hugh couldn’t tell how nervous he was. Was this turning into a date or would this be Paul expecting too much and ruining their friendship? Before he had met Hugh he had desperately wished for a friend, one who wasn’t living on the other side of the country. One who’d hug him, and one who would stay up with him and just sit and talk when he couldn’t sleep. And Hugh had almost instantly been so much more than he could have wished for and losing him as a friend was one of the worst things Paul could imagine happening to him.

He rested his head on Hugh’s shoulder to test the waters.

“Do you go stargazing a lot?”, Hugh asked handing him the cocoa, not showing much reaction to Paul moving closer. Which was a good thing, right?

“When the weather is right. It’s a nice thing to do when I can’t sleep.”, he said and sipped cocoa.

“It’s amazing. Thanks for showing me everything.”

“Thanks for being interested.”

“Of course I am.”, Hugh said softly. He opened his mouth, trying to say something else but then didn’t and just gave Paul an unusually shy smile.

Paul needed to get a clear head for a moment or he would say something that he’d regret. He shrugged the blanket off his shoulders and let himself fall back on the matt, staring straight up in the sky. Hugh did the same.

Their knuckles brushed together and Hugh intertwined their fingers.

Paul’s heart started racing. He didn’t get his moment to think clear, but he didn’t have to, this was obvious, right? Right?? Hugh was making this obvious for him because he didn’t want to say it himself. Was he just as anxious?

Paul turned his head to look at him. He was staring up at the sky seeming mostly content but he noticed something uneasy about him.

“You’re not looking at the stars.”, he said, before turning his head to look back at him.

“No.”, was all Paul could get out. He tried to search for clues in Hugh’s eyes.

“What is it?”, Hugh encouraged him softly.

“Can...” The fact he had started the sentence knocked all the air out of his lungs. There was no going back now. “Can I kiss you?”

Hugh’s smile stayed just as soft but his eyes lit up. “Yes.”

Paul was so relieved he almost felt like crying. His brain probably short-circuited, he wanted to think about all the implications that this simple "yes" brought with it, but his mind was blank, unable to focus on anything but what was happening right now.

Without letting go of Hugh’s hand he pushed himself up on his arm and leaned in for a kiss.

Hugh’s lips were warm so soft and Paul instantly felt self conscious about his own maybe a bit dry lips, but Hugh didn’t seem to mind.

He tasted of chocolate and spice and… well, him.

The kiss ended after just a moment but they stayed close. Paul again tried to take a moment to collect his thoughts, eyes still closed. This was suddenly a lot. He had kissed a lot and a lot of people, but it had never felt like this. This was strange and new and made a knot appear in this chest.

When he opened his eyes Hugh was softly smiling at him. And perfect empathic Hugh understood and just hugged him tightly. He ran his hand over his back while Paul tried to sort through these weird new feelings.

“You know...”, Hugh admitted quietly but with a chuckle. “I’ve never kissed before.”

“Never?”, Paul asked, feeling his face heat up.

“Not outside of stupid sleepover games.”

“Oh. Uhm. I have. A bit.” He had in fact a lot.

“Good, because this would have been a disaster if you hadn’t known what to do, because I sure as hell didn’t.”, he laughed, pulling him a little tighter.

“You’re not a bad kisser.”, Paul said, pulling back just enough to look at him.

“I’m glad to hear that.”, he giggled.

He was so cute when he laughed, with the little smile lines around his eyes appeared and his face was just so bright and for the first time Paul didn’t feel bad for thinking that.

Now Hugh leaned in for a kiss. Or a few kisses rather. It was unfair how good he was at it already, Paul remembered his own first kisses as pretty disgusting.

Maybe kissing was just about finding the right person. Was this love? He had had crushes before, but none of them had been replied in the same way. Until now.

“I didn’t think that tonight would turn out this way.”, he admitted.

“I kind of did.”, Hugh smiled.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“For the same reason as you didn’t.”, he shrugged.

That was an irrefutable point.

“Thanks for saying something. I really didn’t know how to.”, he added

Paul just smiled shyly. Hugh replied it and wrapped an arm around him. Paul cuddled closer and needed an awkwardly long time to find a comfortable spot on Hugh’s shoulder. But the other didn’t mind and for a while they just watched the sky silently.

Paul felt Hugh’s head moving first, and then his breath in his hair.

“You smell so nice.”, he whispered.

Paul just hummed and cuddled closer.

Eventually they both started getting cold and sat up to get the blanket out from underneath them and wrap themselves in it. They laid back down, arms around each other, Paul’s head tucked under Hugh’s chin.

  


Paul had to have fallen asleep because in his next conscious moment he felt very different. He realized that he had felt constantly nervous before but now he was nothing but calm and content. He was more aware of Hugh’s smell now. Fruity shampoo, a bit sweat under all the layers he was wearing and the citrusy musky smell of whatever it was that he put in his hair.

“Paul.”, Hugh said quietly, almost a whisper. So that had woken him up. He moved back to look up at the other.

“Look.”, Hugh smiled. Paul followed his look and had to squint at the light. The sun was rising, shining between the few trees and coloring the still mostly dark sky in beautiful shades of purple, pink and orange.

“Isn’t it so pretty?”

“It is.”, Paul smiled. “I usually don’t stay until sunrise.”

“Why not? You were missing out on something.”

“Because my mum is an early riser and I have to sneak back in.”

“Oh. What about today?”

“My mum and my sister are on a trip and my dad works late and sleeps long. I’ll text him later and say I’m going to your place.”

“Sure.”, Hugh smiled widely. “We can make pancakes.”

“For lunch? Because I want to sleep.”, Paul mumbled snuggling closer, pushing his cheek against Hugh’s as they looked up at the colorful sky. It was cold against his, so he pulled his hand out from under the blankets and cupped Hugh’s other cheek with it.

Hugh chuckled a little and then hummed warmly.

“Are you cold?”, Paul asked.

“A bit. But we shouldn't stay much longer anyway. They’ll open the park in an hour, we should be gone before that.”

“What’s the time anyway?”

“Almost five.”

“Did I sleep that long?”

“No, we talked that long.”, he chuckled. “You fell asleep just after four.”

“Sorry.”

“I don’t mind at all. You’re really cute when you sleep.”

“I’m really not, I drool.”

“I mean, yeah honestly that part is a tiny bit gross but you look just so sweet.”

Paul laughed. “I’m really glad that you like me.”

“Of course I do.”, Hugh replied with a smile.

Paul pecked his lips and sat up, hiding a blush, even though they had kissed before.

“You’re right, we should get going.”

Hugh sat up too and wrapped his arms around him. 

“Thanks for all of this.”

“No, thank _you_.”, Paul smiled, running a hand over Hugh’s arm.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You always do so much for me.”

“So do you.”

“I try.”, he smiled.

“And succeed.”


End file.
